FDBusiness.com

Buxton Natural Mineral Water, which is part of Nestlé Waters UK, has announced its whole range will be made from 100% recycled plastic (rPET), while remaining 100% recyclable, by 2021. The 75cl and 1 litre bottles made from 100% rPET were launched in November this year and the rest of the range, currently made with a minimum of 20% recycled plastic, will follow by end 2021.

Nestlé Waters has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, to reduce its impact on the environment and to promote a circular economy. The new bottles will be manufactured entirely from used plastic significantly reducing the amount of virgin plastic in circulation.

Michel Beneventi, business executive officer for Nestlé Waters UK, says: “We are incredibly excited to be able to put our commitments to sustainability into practice. The high-quality recycled material retains the same all-important properties as PET, resulting in a product that is lightweight, durable, resilient and still 100% recyclable.

“We would have liked to have made all our Buxton bottles from recycled material much sooner but there are many challenges to achieving this. The material we use needs to be high-quality food grade.”

Michel Beneventi continues: “The availability of a domestic UK supply of this material is still relatively limited. Today, the rPET used for our Buxton bottles has to be sourced outside of the UK, as we don’t currently have the infrastructure available at scale in this country to create volumes needed. We would love to be able to produce the bottles for our British water in the UK. Therefore, we’re working with industry partners, non-governmental organisations and government to improve the national recycling rate, supporting the UK-wide Deposit Return Scheme and engaging with consumers about their recycling to help make a circular economy for plastics a reality.”

This year Nestlé laid out its vision that none of its product packaging, including plastics, should end up in landfill or as litter, including in seas, oceans and waterways and that all 100% of its packaging will be recyclable or reusable by 2025. Buxton is ahead of this target with this announcement.

Anna Turrell, head of sustainability for Nestlé UK and Ireland, says: “It is great that Buxton is taking this vital step. As a packaged goods company, we have a hugely important role to play in helping to address the amount of plastic produced in our industry and a collective responsibility to help shape a more sustainable future. We will continue to push the boundaries to address this challenge. We know more needs to be done and that we don’t have all the answers, but we are determined to get there.”